Gardner: Your contribution is vital to the future of President Trump’s America First agenda. With your support, we will strengthen our Senate Majority. Will you step up and make a contribution today?

Gardner emailed the plea to fellow Republicans in his role as the Chair of a GOP committee that’s in charge of electing U.S. Senators in the November election.

Republicans hold a narrow majority in the U.S. Senate currently, but both the senate chamber and the U.S. House of Representatives could change to Democratic control in November — an outcome Gardner referenced in his fundraising appeal in an effort to create sense of urgency.

Gardner: Democrats are spending millions on negative and misleading attack ads in their attempt to win back the Senate in 2018. The stakes are too high, and time is running out. We have 5 days until our crucial fundraising deadline, and we are well short of our goal. Pitch in NOW to help us DEFEND the Republican Majority! Senate Republicans are counting on you to step up and help us win in November!

The email promised that all donations would be matched by four times, though the source of the matching funds wasn’t indicated, and Gardner’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Gardner has indicated that he will give up his leadership of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) after the upcoming election to focus on his own re-election in Colorado in 2020.

Asked this year if he was planning to run again for his current U.S. Senate leadership position, in which he’s charged with electing Republicans to the U.S. Senate, Gardner told The Hill, a Washington DC publication, “I am going to be focused on 2020.” This was interpreted as a sign that he would give up the position, which gives Gardner a seat at the Republican leadership table in the U.S. Senate.

Gardner’s critics say he tries to present himself as independent-minded about Trump’s agenda, while backing the president in under-the-radar fundraising appeals and voting with the mogul over 90 percent of the time.

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If Con Man Cory were to be honest, his appeal would have gone something like this: "Keep our Kleptocracy alive! We need to keep plundering the treasury to line our and your pockets! We delivered on our promise to cut your taxes bigly, now please step up and give back just a few million and we'll quadruple your donation!"

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Monday its farm aid package would include $4.7 billion in direct payments to farmers to help offset losses from retaliatory tariffs on American exports this season.

"An announcement about further payments will be made in the coming months if warranted," Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said.

Numbers I saw said losses from this crop year would be $12 billion or more.

Plan announced "nearly $4.7 billion in direct payments to producers harmed, more than $1.2 billion in government food purchases and $200 million to develop foreign markets." In other words, about half of the expected damage.

Direct payments to producers will be capped at $125,000 per person, and payments could go out as early as mid-September, Bill Northey, USDA undersecretary for farm production and conservation, said.

Direct payments will be provided to cotton, corn, dairy, pork, soybeans, sorghum and wheat producers. Farmers need to establish eligibility with the Farm Service Agency and will be paid a certain rate for each commodity for 50 percent of their actual production, he said.

Granted, we aren't all the way through the cycle and the last 2 months MAY bring in substantial dollars. And the campaign environment differs, with fewer Republicans to defend and a limited set of pick-up opportunities to spend on. But lagging by $21 million from 2 years ago or $11 million 4 years ago and taking election expenditure inflation into account, Cory and crew do appear to have some serious ground to make up.

Of course, the Keating Five scandal, Sarah Palin (which paved the way for Trump, IMHO), and trillion dollar deficits during good economic times caused by tax breaks to the richest are just a few of the times that McCain defied "Country First".

Americans are generally upset with widening inequality, the political influence of big business, and declining living standards. Public opinion is generally favorable toward greater government activism to address these and other problems, like climate change and health care.

Most Americans worry that government has been captured by the powerful and wealthy. They want a government that serves the common good. They also want to reform government to make it more responsive and accountable.